Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion
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Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion section of the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass. As such, our focus starts there and spreads to include Massachusetts, the nation and the world. Since successful blogs create communities of readers and writers, we hope the \x34& Co.\x34 will also come to include you.

With the first falling of the leaves, we have our first mass shooting of the murder season, and we see the appearances of the Newtown and Aurora victims with their placards again, EJ Dione being dragged out by NPR to bad mouth law abiding gun owners and Second Amendment supporters, and Obama has a chance to wallow in his favorite comforter in chief role. Can snow be far behind?